Data warehouses

DW is the central, consolidated data storage. DW contains detailed information from “all” internal information systems, which can be augmented with data fro m e xternal systems. The data warehouse should be updated regularly. Regular additions from operational information systems create time series in DW.

Currently the DWs not only contain a massive amount of information, but they also increase the demands for keeping it up to date in the so-called “near on-line” mode. In addition to serving the needs of the top management, they are also used by a great number of „regular“ users accessing them at the same time. The most recent trend in the area of DW are specialised platforms which combine both hardware and software and are preinstalled, preconfigured and optimised f or extremely high performance. 

Business intelligence

BI is a set of skills, knowledge, technologies, applications and methodologies used for gaining information which makes it possible to better understand the relationships and behaviour of objects in the given context (market, customers, clients etc.).

One of the main tasks of BI is thus support for decision making. In addition to current information, BI also offers a historical view of data and makes it possible to model a forecast for the future.

The general functions of BI applications include data analyses, the creation of comprehensive tables and graphs (reporting), use of interactive dashboards, data mining, corporate performance management (CPM) and predictive analysis.

The BI tools help analyse the available data sources and provide input data on the basis of which it is possible to answer questions such as:

• What’s happened, what’s going on?
• Where, how often, with which results?
• What is the main cause?
• What needs to be done?
• Why did it actually happen?
• What will happen if it happens again?
• What else could happen in the future?
• What is the best possible way?